Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-08-31
THE FACTS PROVED.
LET ME PLAY THE SKEPTtC FOR A
MOMENT.
OH. THIS IS A CLUMSY WORLD
WHEN 1T TRIES TO COMFORT
Al BROKEN HEART!
RELIGION HAS POWER TO GIVE con
POSTURE IN THE LAST MOMENT.
OH, HEARER, GET YOUR EYE ON
THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM! f!
DIR. TALMAGEs SERMON, AUG. s1sT.

DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON, AUG. Dist.
THE HAMProNs, August 21.-"The Facts
Proved" is the subject of discourse Dy the
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, DID,, to-day
His text is from the 18th verse of Acts ILL:
sWe are witnesses" Following is his SER
mon in full:
In the days of George Stephenson, the
perfector of the locomotive engine, the SCI
entists proved conclusively that railway
train could never be driven by steam power
successfully and without peril; but the rush.
ing express train from Liverpool to Edin-
burgh, and from Edinburgh to London,
have made all the nation witnesses of the
splendid achievement. Machinists and navi-
gators proved conclusively that steamer
could never cross the Atlantic Ocean; but
no sooner had they successfully proved the
Impossibility of Guch an undertaking than
the work was done, and the passenger on
the Cupard, and the Inman, and the Ma
tional, and the White Star lines are wit
nesses. There went up guffaw of wise
laughter at Prof. Morse's proposition to
make the lightning of heaven his errand
boy, and it was proved conclusively that the
thing could never be done; but now all the
news of the wide world, by Associated
Press put in your hands every morning and
night, has made all nations witnesses.
So in the time of Christ it was proved
conclusively that 1t was impossible for him
to rise from the dead. 1t was shown logi
ca1ly that when man was dead, he was
dead, and the heart and the liver and the
lungs having ceased to perform their offices,
the limbs would be rigid beyond all power
of friction or arousal. They showed it to
be an absurdity that the dead Christ should
ever get up alive; but no sooner had they
proved this than the dead Christ arose, and
the disciples beheld Him, heard His voice,
talked with Him, and they took the wit
ness stand to prove that to be true which
the wiseacres of the day had proved to be
impossible; the record of the experiment
and of the testimony is in the text: 'Him
hath God raised from the dead, whereof we
are witnesses"
Now, let me play the skeptic for a mo-
ment. s'There is no God," says the skeptic,
ssfor have never seen Him with my physi-
cal eyesight. Your Bible is pack of con-
tradictions. There never was a miracle
Lazarus was not raised from the dead, and
the water was never turned into wine. Your
religion is an imposition on the credulity OF
the ages" There is an aged man moving
in that pew as though he would like to re-
spond. Here are hundreds of people with
faces a little flushed at these announce
ments, and all through this house there is a
suppressed feeling which would like to speak
out in behalf of the truth of our glorious
Christianity, as in the days of the text, cry
ing out. "We are witnesses %
The fact is, that if this world is ever
brought to God. it will not be through argu-
ment, but through testimony. You might
cover the whole earth with apologies for
Christianity and learned treatises in de-
fence of reltgion-you would not convert
soul. Lectures on the harmony between
science and religion are beautiful mental
discipline, but have never saved soul, and
never will save soul. Put a man of the
world and man of the Church against each
other, and the man of tho world will in all
probability get the triumph. There are
thousand things in our religion that seem
illogical to the world and always will seem
illogical.
Our weapon in this conflict is faith, not
logic; faith, not metaphysics; faith, not pro-
fundity; faith, not scholastic exploration.-
But then, in order to have faith, we must
have testimony, and if five hundred men, or
one thousand men, or five hundred thou
sand men, or five million men get up and
tell me that they havo felt the religion of
Jesus Christ Joy, comfort, help, an in
spiratlon, I am bound as fair-minded man
to accept their testimony. want just now
to put before you three propositions, the
truth of which think the audience will at
test with overwhelming unanimity.
The first proposition is: We are Witness
es that the religion of Christ is able to con-
vert soul.
The Gospel may have had a hard time to
conquer US, we may have fought it back,
but we were vanquished. You say CONVEX
sion is only an imaginary thing. We know
better. "We are witnesses" There never
was so great change in our heart and life
on any other subject as on this. People
laughed at the missionaries in Madagascar
because they preached ten years without
one convert; but there are thirty-three
thousand converts in Madagascarto Gay.
People laughed at DR.. Judson, the Baptist
missionary, because he kept on preaching
in Burman five years without single con-
vert; but there are twenty thousand Bap-
lists in Burman to-day. People laughed at
Dr. Morrison, in China, for preaching there
seven years without a single conversion, but
there are fifteen thousand Christians in
China to-day. People laughed at the mis-
sionaries for preaching at Tahiti for fifteen
years without single conversion, and at
the missionaries for preaching in Bengal
seventeen years without single conver-
sion; yet in all those lands there are multi
tudes of Christians to-day.
But why 60 so far to find evidences of the
Gospels power to save soul? ''We are
witnesses" We were so proud that no
man could have humbled us; we were so
hard that no earthly power could have
melted us; angels of God were all around
about us, they could not overcome us; but
one day, perhaps at Methodist anxious
seat, or at Presbyterian catechetical lee
ture, or at bulial, or on horseback, a
power seized US, and made us get down,
and made US tremble, and made us kneel,
and made us cry for mercy, and we tried to
wrench ourselves away from the grasp, but
we could not. 1t flung US flat, and when
wa arose wa Hara as much changed as